OCTOBER 31, 2011 2:34PM
Halloween, 2011 - A Banner Season for Demons
The “banner season”
for the current wave of demonic attack/possession films started last
year, and is slouching towards January with the upcoming release of
Rome-based theological thriller The Devil Inside. What’s going on? Is torture porn no longer capturing the imagination and fear of the horror fans and moviegoers? Or, is this spiritual torture porn? Is it a resurgence of belief and evangelical fundamentalism that’s making this theme a trend again?
Me, I suspect it’s
nothing more than Hollywood’s mixed attempts to capture the genuine and
sensational electric current of fear generated by the 600 pound demon in
the room, The Exorcist. I was susceptible to that current, and I didn’t grow up in a particularly religious household. Can you really point to another film that created so much fright and trauma in people (no, Glitter doesn’t count)? Are
film creators and executives genuinely interested in the subject and
the questions that it brings up, or do they want to find the next “hot
creature” and sell their souls to it for revenue?
Some of the films under discussion might have answers to that question, depending on your point of view. Spoilers below for all of them.
The Last Exorcism (released August 27, 2010) goes out of Catholicism into the American Protestant response to demonic possession, which I like. A summary paraphrased from IMDB:
In Baton
Rouge, Louisiana, the evangelical Reverend Cotton Marcus agrees that the
filmmaker Iris Reisen and the cameraman Daniel Moskowitz make a
documentary about his life as an exorcist. Cotton tells that he
questions his faith. Further, he tells that exorcisms are frauds but the
results are good for the believers because they believe it is true.
When Cotton is summoned by the farmer Louis Sweetzer to perform an
exorcism in his daughter Nell, Cotton sees the chance to prove to the
documentary crew what he has just told. Cotton performs the exorcism in
Nell, exposing his tricks to the camera, but sooner they learn that the
dysfunctional Sweetzer family has serious problems.
A good companion text for this movie is Michael W. Cuneo’s “American Exorcist: Expelling Demons in the Land of Penty." I highly recommend it. It
discusses how exorcism is becoming a ‘cottage industry’ in many
Protestant evangelical churches, and is being used to expel demons of
‘depression, laziness, apathy,’ etc., like some kind of mystic Prozac.
I loved The Last Exorcism
up until the very end. I loved the premise - an evangelical,
professional exorcist working backwards to debunk possession in order to
prevent further harm and superstition. Not only was the possession
creep factor high and well executed, but performances by Patrick Fabian
as the likeable Cotton Marcus and Ashley Bell as the afflicted Nell
Sweetzer were superb. The mystery surrounding Nell's possession was
engaging, as was Cotton's exposition of his bag of tricks.
But then, the film turned to a "much too vulgar a display of power." Eli Roth of Hostel
fame was one of its producers, and many were suprised that he could be
involved in such an understated horror film. Alas, the understatement
didn't last. MAJOR SPOILERS FOR THE LAST EXORCISM: the climax involved a plot twist shared by another film discussed below. While it fit well in Paranormal Activity 3, it cheapened and shlockened what up until then was a fascinating treatment on the topic of demonic possession.
The Rite (released January 28, 2011) is moody, serious and beautifully shot. It takes us back to a highly Catholic take on the subject, and it is based on the book ”The Rite: The Making of a Modern Exorcist” by Matt Baglio which claims to be founded upon on true events. I never take that claim seriously. I also suspect that the bizarre “true cases” found in Malachi Martin’s “Hostage to the Devil” have informed this film. The premise involves a novice priest with lack of faith problem – yawn, again – being invited to join a sort of Hogwarts for exorcists run out of The Vatican. The
young priest Michael Kovak (played by Colin O’Donoghue) is a skeptic
almost from the start and though the exorcism course is meant to be a
way to keep him in the priesthood, he keeps pressing his instructors on
matters of science. As he resolves to leave for good, he
is asked to study under Father Lucas Trevant (played by Anthony Hopkins)
someone highly experienced in driving out demons. We
witness two dramatic exorcisms (a pregnant woman and a boy) that,
although they contain highly fantastical elements, don’t necessarily
riff The Exorcist overmuch.
Then, Father
Trevant himself becomes possessed, leading to the conclusion involving
Father Kovak and his red herring journalist love interest. Kovak
finally regains some deep Catholic faith. As you can
expect a possessed Anthony Hopkins is indeed terrifying and enigmatic,
even if you can’t tell the difference between the demon and Dr. Hannibal
Lecter.
Switching gears and leaving religion mostly out of it, Insidious (released April 1, 2011) didn’t feature a demonic possession, but it would have if the evil hadn’t been stopped in its tracks. It
was a scary tale of household demonic attack, complete with all the
trappings – a psychic advisor, a spiritually beleaguered child,
progressive entrapment and a family secret. A little-used New Age twist, a father-son talent for astral projection, was used as a plot device. There were good frights along the way via the various apparitions and hauntings. That doesn’t last. The climax of the film might be original but suffers from showing us too much of what we shouldn’t see. Barbara
Hershey as the grandmother of the afflicted child brought an extra
tinge of residual creepiness from her own, highly disturbing 1983 movie The Entity about a rapist incubus.
Finally, we come to Paranormal Activity 3 which I watched on October 23rd. I
think this series does tap into what’s truly frightening about the
premise of demons and spirits invading your own house – every little
creak, bump, breeze and refrigerator hum as you’re trying to go to
sleep. The third installment in the series continues the
tradition of a swarthy good looking man of the house videotaping the
supernatural goings-on in his home. all the way to his doom. If
you follow the franchise you know that it’s not a ghost plaguing this
family, it is in fact a vicious demon, always formless and faceless. It was brought into this family’s life by a covenant, and in Part 3 we see a whole lot more of who and how. MAJOR PA3 SPOILERS FOLLOW. There
is a frightening and expertly realized climax that avoids obvious
didactic exposition and rewards all the hints and small pieces of
information to be gathered throughout the franchise. The
compulsive videotaper Dennis stumbles upon a multigenerational demon
worshipping coven responsible for the hauntings and subsequent
possession throughout the entire PA franchise. More importantly, the film is set in the 80’s, appropriately enough since it’s now dealing with the Satanic Panic as a motif. The
coven apparently has the ability to “brainwash” and alter
recollections, reminiscent of claims of multiple personality disorders
and suppressed memories by alleged victims of satanic ritual abuse. The cult has goats of Mendes and weird occult triangle symbols. It’s
interesting that this franchise wants to revisit the lunatic thought of
those days, especially when the characters in the films are so modern
and seem so beyond that sort of hooey. Also, I’m stupidly
tempted to read into the nature of the cult (women) and the nature of
the victim who receives the most violent and brutal death (the men of
the house, though certainly not the only victims). Retro in more ways than just its 80’s setting?
So,
with all these films, there seems to be mostly a superficial interest
in the horror of demonic attack and possession, which is certainly
appropriate for Insidious or Paranormal Activity 3. The explorations of faith and questions about the universe that are raised in films like The Rite are unsatisfactory, while The Last Exorcism dropped the ball on a fresh premise.
Mostly the genre seems to be unable to escape an old trope – God as a cosmic extortionist. You’ve lost your faith? Well,
just watch this innocent girl get incessantly tortured by demons, watch
for impossible supernatural goings on, and you’ll be back at Mass in no
time! This irritated me in The Rite, and it irritated me in 2006’s The Exorcism of Emily Rose. Now consider again the genre’s unbeatable parent, The Exorcist. Yes,
another priest lacking faith being tested via demons – but – Ellen
Burstyn’s Chris MacNeil didn’t come out of this ordeal as a believer. In fact no one did – no one said “I saw a little girl levitate and spin her head 360 degrees – there IS a God!”
The audience however, witnessed the Christ-like sacrifice of Father Damien Karras. There endeth the faith lesson.
UPDATE: I am now listening to an NPR interview with William Peter Blatty.
"The Exorcist"'s 40th anniversary edition (the novel, that is) is
revised! He says the novel remains a "novel of faith", not of horror.
Reported changes include a new character, an extended scene and new
dialogue.
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Comments
saw the Rite but excited to see PA3. I LOVE that series..
thanks for doing this.
HUGGGGGGGGG
thanks for doing this.
HUGGGGGGGGG
Thanks Linda, Happy Halloween! I've really come to love the PA series.
I just saw The Rite and
will watch it again to see the parts that I hid from. Also watched
"Devil" with the devil in the elevator. Maybe I'll go over the parts I
hid from with that movie, too.
I love that the final message is that you can't believe in the devil without believing in God, too! They're a package, so you can't choose the existence of one and not the other.
My question is don't Baptists and Lutherans need exorcisms too? Why only Catholics? Just asking....R and chokes for Halloween.
I love that the final message is that you can't believe in the devil without believing in God, too! They're a package, so you can't choose the existence of one and not the other.
My question is don't Baptists and Lutherans need exorcisms too? Why only Catholics? Just asking....R and chokes for Halloween.
I too liked The Last
Exorcism right up until the ending. I felt the same way about
Insidious. The Rite sits on a shelf in my family room; I can't get
excited about watching it for some reason. As for PA3 which I just saw,
I liked the first two but disliked this one. The ending was too over
the top. I couldn't stand the two adults either; especially "the
swarthy good-looking man of the house." He was an ineffectual wimp!
Who sees what he saw on those tapes and doesn't get his family out of
that house pronto - or question the babysitter!!! And bring in some
help. The mother was a dingbat.
My biggest problem with most of these movies is that the endings seem designed for sequels - they're so open-ended. The Exorcist was the gold standard to me but one movie I really liked that I thought had it all together was A Haunting in Connecticut.
My biggest problem with most of these movies is that the endings seem designed for sequels - they're so open-ended. The Exorcist was the gold standard to me but one movie I really liked that I thought had it all together was A Haunting in Connecticut.
Zuma - look at "The
Last Exorcist" - that deals with Protestant exorcism. The book I
mention, "American Exorcism", discusses how it's becoming a cottage
industry!
Margaret - I can see the frustration with the PA3 characters, although horror movies always have people doing the wrong, stupid thing. Yeah, they were idiots! How about Dennis's friend doing the bloody mary game with Katie? Wasn't he the one who read all the books about demonology? DUMBASS! All that said, i was still quite chilled by the ending - I found it tense and scary, and I can buy the "progressive entrapment" angle. Switching houses wouldn't have done them any good. Interesting too, about Haunting in CT. I was excited to see that having grown up in northwestern CT with lots of spooky local lore hauntings (see my post "Demonnecticut"), but I was slightly underwhelmed by it. Maybe I'll give it another look.
Margaret - I can see the frustration with the PA3 characters, although horror movies always have people doing the wrong, stupid thing. Yeah, they were idiots! How about Dennis's friend doing the bloody mary game with Katie? Wasn't he the one who read all the books about demonology? DUMBASS! All that said, i was still quite chilled by the ending - I found it tense and scary, and I can buy the "progressive entrapment" angle. Switching houses wouldn't have done them any good. Interesting too, about Haunting in CT. I was excited to see that having grown up in northwestern CT with lots of spooky local lore hauntings (see my post "Demonnecticut"), but I was slightly underwhelmed by it. Maybe I'll give it another look.
When you asked "Can you
really point to another film that created so much fright and trauma in
people?" I had my answer already, until you shot it down by saying
"Glitter" doesn't count.
Thanks for these previews but, even more, thanks for doing this series. It was a lot of fun, and a lot of work on your part.
Thanks for these previews but, even more, thanks for doing this series. It was a lot of fun, and a lot of work on your part.
VA, thank you so much.
Your support has been absolutely awesome. Plus, I figured Glitter
might rate among your most traumatizing movies ever!
I would love to see Paranormal 3!
Great review. I just can't handle slasher movies...You are so brave!
Great review. I just can't handle slasher movies...You are so brave!
Thanks Susie! Some of
these are bloody but they don't quite qualify as 'slashers'. And
believe it or not, I favor the quieter and more subtle horror
movies/fiction.
Thanks for commenting - we really did have similar blog entries today.
Thanks for the entry, as well. Interesting take.
Are you Protestant? Just curious - I am interested in different perspectives.
Thanks for the entry, as well. Interesting take.
Are you Protestant? Just curious - I am interested in different perspectives.
Thanks Elisabeth! I'm very nominally Catholic (as it, not really practicing)
Good review - I don't need to see the movies now.
Not that I would have anyway - hardly ever watch movies, certainly not for money and in a theatre an hour away, and I don't like 'supernatural' movies. But reading about them is interesting.
Not that I would have anyway - hardly ever watch movies, certainly not for money and in a theatre an hour away, and I don't like 'supernatural' movies. But reading about them is interesting.
Thanks for stopping by,
Myriad! As a wiccan I can definitely see why these movies would hold
very little interest for you. Any thoughts on the resurgence of satanic
panic motif in two of these films?
Resurgence of satanic
panic is always worrisome. The dominionists and other far-right
evangelicals worry about demonic paganism and such, and they have undue
influence on at least two Repub presidential candidates... Worry about
Satanism seems to be a chronic low-level fever that has periodic
flare-ups...
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